The Foreign Prince
by blackwing angel
Summary: Zuko gets sucked into another world, the real world. There he must try to cope with modern technology and conveniences. Chapter 5 is up!
1. Down through the sinkhole

Ok, this is my 1st Avatar fic, so if some of the details are a bit screwed up, tell me. This takes place after the episode 'Zuko alone'. This is mostly a Zuko fic,. and I don't think I'm going to add any other avatar characters.

Disclaimer: I don't own Avatar: Last Airbender yada yada. And I don't own the Earth, or do I?

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Zuko had been on his own for almost a week now, and already his trip was pretty sucky. The banished prince had headed off to the next earth village since the last one had looked upon him with disgust.

Zuko wiped his brow with his sleave. It didn't help much, the sweat was just replaced with sand. Zuko willed himself to open his eyes, immediately the light was over powering and he closed them again. He had been like this for about an hour now, using his ears to detect signs of a village near by, and feeling the constant movement of his ostrich-horse to measure time. Slowly drifting in and out of consciousness, it was getting hard for Zuko to tell what was real or a dream. _So thirsty_ he thought, _need water_. Then the Prince heard it; the small trickle of a water fall. This time with a little more effort Zuko managed to peek out of his good eye, and sure enough ahead of him was a tiny oasis.

Zuko was so happy that he jumped off his ostrich-horse and ran to the river. Ok let me rephrase that: Zuko was sooooo trilled that he fell off his O-H and landed face first in the sand. Then, practically crawling, Zuko managed to make his was over to the petite amount of water that was snaking its way over to a sinkhole. There was barely enough room for Zuko to cup his hands under water, but he was able to do it with little struggle. Zuko gratefully gulped down the water, then used some to clean his face. After a few minutes of scrubbing, the Prince looked over to where his transportation was last, but his ostrich-horse wasn't there. His heart was starting to pound with worry, Zuko stood up and searched around him. The animal was nowhere to be found,_ of coarse you idiot! One of the first things you learn about travel it to tie up what you're riding!_ Still looking, Zuko took a few steps backward, into the sinkhole! "AAarrrrgg!" He yelled out of fury, "Let go of my foot!" Zuko's right foot was stuck in the quicksand, and sinking fast. Eagery the earth swallowed his ankle, then his leg, and soon the Prince was up to his hips in dirt. Zuko tried to grab hold of the one scrawny tree that had laid root, but his attempt failed, the tree was only four feet away but still out of reach. Zuko was now up to his chest, and with only fear in his thoughts, he cried out to the only person that truly cared for him; "UNCLE HELP! HELP ME PLEASE!" But the prince knew Iroh was miles away from him. Slowly but strongly the dirt pulled him farther and farther in the dark depths of below. Finally Zuko was submerged.

At first Zuko only felt a heavy liquid pushing into him from all sides, but then an odd thing happened: he felt a cool breeze! Not even second guessing the air, Zuko breathed in deeply. His head was swarmed with nauseous gasses, but the fire prince was able to keep consciousness. Soon the heavy pressure of the quicksand lessoned, and Zuko felt something hard beneath his feet. The air became more fluent, and less sickening. Zuko coughed trying to hack up the sand that had come down his throat. Zuko fell to his knees out of pure exhaustion, but kept coughing. He opened his eyes using the extra strength his adrenalin had given him, and saw a rigid black road.

"Whoa, where did that kid come from?" Some one shouted in the background.

Gradually regaining his hearing, Zuko could tell he was not alone. He heard a few more mumbled voices, then something hard hit his back. Zuko wanted to turn around and face his attacker, but the same hand hit his back again knocking the wind out of him, and all his hearing back in. There where loud explosions off in the distance, and many men cheering. Zuko also heard high-pitched squeals that ended abruptly, and women and children playing and giggling only a short distance away. It sounded like a party, one with load music. The music was like nothing Zuko had ever heard, it was really fast paced, and had an under beat to it that was making his insides vibrate. "Uhhh," he moaned after his fit of coughs had stopped.

"Ralph, get your fat ass up and throw me a water!" The man who had been hitting Zuko's back yelled. After catching something, the man shoved a clear bottle under the teen's nose, "Here kid, maybe this'll help ya."

Zuko eagerly took the water bottle from the man, and poured its entire contents down his thirsty throat.

"Is he alright?" A whiny female voice asked.

"Yeah Molly, he's fine. Probably just too much excitement for him." Zuko heard the man walk away. Slowly rising to his aching feet, Zuko looked at his new surroundings. It was night now, _how long had I been in that sinkhole?_, and instead of sand, an odd kind of black dirt covered the ground. The dirt was so hard that it was almost a single rock, but there were smaller rocks on top of it, about the same color. And an even stranger quality of the terrain was that yellow and white stripes were placed on the dirt in such a way that it looked like someone had painted them on. _That's stupid_, Zuko thought. _No one paints dirt, it would just blow away_. On top of the dirt were the strangest looking trees Zuko had ever seen. They were about 25-30 ft high, and rectangular, they were all made out of metal. Each tree split into two parts at the top, each part going at a 90 degree angle from the base, and a light coming from the end. Each of the trees were space an even distance from each other.

Placed around him, Zuko saw massive creatures, about as big as a rhino-horse. The creatures all had see-through sides and four wheels instead of legs. Most of these creature's back ends opened up, because Zuko saw people sitting inside of them watching the sky. Looking at the sky as well, he saw fireworks. _Well, that explains the explosions, and screeching noises. I must be in some weird part of the fire nation. _Zuko glance at the direction the man had left in. There he was, with his family sitting in the back of one of those animals. 'Molly' spotted the boy and waved, "Happy 4th of July!" She called in a high-pitched annoying voice.

Zuko nodded his head out of respect, then in a quick pace walked away from the people. He saw to his left was a large building with the characters: **W A L M A R T** written over the doors. Zuko, not being able to read English, had no idea to what these symbols meant. He kept walking until a girl leaning against one of the odd looking trees spoke to him; "Trying to start a new fashion?" She said, the sarcasm heavy in her voice.

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This was almost like what my 4th of July was like, just watching fireworks from a Wal-Mart parking lot, exciting huh? And for the slow people, black dirt – asphalt. The creatures with wheels – SUVs. And the weird trees – lamp posts. Hope it wasn't too confusing, and happy 4th to you!


	2. Some new Threads

Hmm, I applaud those who have found my fic and decided to read it, 'cause I donno about yall, but the search engine on fanfic wont work for me right now. (smacks fanfic employees on their heads "Get it to work!") Anyway… umm, well that's it. Here is the second chapter, hope you like!

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"Trying to start a new fashion?" She said, the sarcasm heavy in her voice. The girl wore a heavy black hoodie, with her sleeves scrunched up to her elbows. On the sweatshirt was an emblem of a skull and cross bones put in silver fabric. She had baggy blue jeans on, with holes in both the knees. The girl also wore a chain around her neck, and 3 silver rings on her right hand. On her left hand was something like a glove, but it was in fishnet, and didn't cover her fingers. The girl's hair was black with deep purple highlights, and her eyes were bright green. She looked to be about 14.

Zuko looked at the oddly dress girl, "Pahh, like you should talk." He spat at her.

"Well at least I get my clothes locally, bet you go to China to get your threads."

Zuko didn't know where China was, but whatever the girl had said sounded like an insult. "You dare talk to me like that!" He placed his hands over his duel swards and prepared for a fight.

"Ya Scarface, I do dare." The girl taunted. "Soooo whatcha gonna do about it?" She cocked her head to the side; "Have any Jacky Chan moves to go with the outfit?"

_Why doesn't she make a move to defend herself? Or even put up a fighting stance? And if I am in the Fire Nation, wouldn't she recognize who I am? Who's Jacky Chan?_ A million and one questions zipped trough Zuko's mind as he tried to think of what to do. The 'Scarface' comment had pissed him off, but he didn't really want to pick a fight with some little girl. 'Back off." He hissed in a voice of warning, and pulled his sward out an inch to show he meant it.

"Oh, the foreign boy has a blade! Well so do I!" The girl reached into her sneaker and pulled out a switch blade knife. She flicked it open and looked blatantly at Zuko, a small grin slowly making its way onto her face.

Just then a woman's voice (not Molly's) called out: "Allison! Allison come on, we're going home dear."

"Shit," The girl mumbled and stuck her knife back into her shoe. "You're lucky I didn't kick your ass." Allison pointed her finger at Zuko.

Zuko cocked an eyebrow, "Run home to Mommy." He said, drawing happiness out of the girl's humiliation. Allison left and Zuko turned and started walking towards Wal-Mart, he was a bit hungry, and this looked like a place he could get food.

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Allison walked over to her mother's SUV. That boy was kinda cute, and the Chinese armor fit him well. And the part she liked the most, was that even though he wore dorky clothes, he still looked like he could get the hurtin' on anybody who crossed him. She let out a small smile, _I hope I see him again!_

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Zuko was close to the store now, and could see the glass doors, he could also see that they had no handles. He got closer and watched in shock as the doors opened themselves. A little scared, Zuko backed up a few steps, soon the doors closed. Very cautiously he stuck his arm out, nothing happened so Zuko took a step forward. The doors opened again, and the prince stood there in awe, _what kind of magic is this?_ he thought. Zuko then jumped through the opening, half expecting the doors to come slamming shut trapping him inside the building. The doors did shut, but only after a few seconds of him being on the inside. "Hi, welcome to Wal-Mart!" a zit-faced teenager said. "Is there anything I can help you find?" The boy looked to be a year or two older then Zuko.

"No." Zuko said flatly in response. His stomach however told a different tale, with a loud grumble it reveled what he was looking for.

"There's a McDonalds in the back, and from what you're wearing I'm guessing you're an Avatar fan. We just got the first season in on DVD if you want to look at it. Your costume looks very authentic, a true fan aren't you!"

"No," Zuko said and walked off in the direction of the food place the man had mentioned. He walked through the store and passed the clothes section. Nothing that Zuko was wearing looked anything like what this place was selling. In fact, everybody Zuko saw was wearing blue pants, and some kind of colored T-Shirt, he had never seen people dressed like this. _Maybe that stupid girl was right; maybe I do stick out a bit in these clothes. _Zuko looked around until he found some shorts and a red shirt that he liked.

"Shopping for you sister?" A female voice said from behind.

"Wha, NO!" Zuko replied in an irritated voice. There was no way he would ever shop for his sister.

Thesales lady then said, "Well are you shopping for you girlfriend? 'Cause you know you're in the girl's section right?"

"Aarrgg!" Zuko threw the clothes that were in his hand onto some jean rack. _Why can't I even pick out some new clothes without making a fool of myself? I shouldn't have left Uncle._ Zuko looked over at the lady with a touch of sadness and anger in his eyes.

"Do you need some help?" She asked smiling at the teen. Reluctantly Zuko nodded and she escorted him to the young mans department. "Here you go." She said once the arrived, "Now what's your size?" Zuko shrugged, all the clothes he had ever gotten, had been tailored to fit him perfectly. "Hmmm, I'm gonna guess your about a 24, or maybe a 26 around the waist." She pulled out some shorts each with different designs on them. "And a medium shirt." She waved toward the wall which had many T-Shirts hanging from hooks. "Pick out a few shirts you like and I'll get them in the right size for you." Zuko pointed to 3 shirts, his favorite was blue with a silver flame on it. "Alrighty, take these and go try them on in the fitting room over there."

Zuko did what he was told (which was a first) and went into an empty stall. After about 10 minutes of taking off clothes and putting others on, Zuko narrowed down his selection to his favorite blue T, and some black shorts. He came out of the tiny room wearing what he picked out, and the helpful lady was standing there. "You want to buy these?"

"Yeah, how much?"

"Why don't you take off those tags and I'll ring you up." Not knowing what 'ring you up' was, Zuko didn't make a move.

"Take off the paper stuck to the cloth, and I'll be able to tell you what the price is." She said in a slow voice stretching out each word so Zuko could hear.

"I'm not deaf." He mumbled and tore off the tags. The lady took the paper from him and pressed a few buttons on a device.

"$26.72" She said in a cheerful voice. Zuko frowned and handed her one bronze coin. "Hmm, do you happen to have any American money?"

"What's 'American money'?" Zuko said a hint of worry in his voice.

"You know… dollars, quarters, pennies… any of this ringin' a bell?"

Zuko crossed his arms "Is that going to cover it or not?" He asked nodding to his bronze coin still in the woman's hand.

The woman sighed and handed the coin back to Zuko. "I'm gonna charge this to my credit card, when you have some **real** money, come back and pay me." She swiped a golden card in another contraption. Zuko mumbled his thanks and walked away, his old outfit in a plastic bag the woman had given him. "Wait," She called after him. Zuko turned around. "There's a coin collector stationed on the other side of the store, he might be able to give you some cash for that coin of yours." Zuko changed his coarse and started walking over to where the woman had pointed. All he really wanted was some food, but Zuko knew he would have to have the right currency to get anything.

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Whew, writing 3 pages so quickly gave me a bit of a head ache. A few notes, yes the girl in the beginning (Allison) is gothic**-**skater (without the heavy make-up), and no it's not me, just the beginning was based on my 4th of July... If you liked the descriptions of new things like in chapter one (cars, lamp posts, ect.) then wait till Zuko gets out of the store, there will be more of those. Umm… Oh, and there is a LOT of slang in here, so some words that arn't really words, (Kinda, Alrighty, ringin') those are just pronounced how you see them. I think that's it. And remember to review! Plz!


	3. All he wants is a BigMac

Thank you to the people who have reviewed on my story. DraonHeart0000, ripped star, and Twisted Elegance. I dedicate this chapter to yall.

Disclaimer: I don't own Avatar blah blah, and I don't own McDonalds (who's food tastes bad anyway), but I do own Allison (or Ally as she will be known in the future) so haha, power to the people! Yeah, so… here's chapter 3

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_Where the hell am I? _Zuko thought as he walked through rows of camping equipment. All the stuff he had seen was new, and none of it looked like something he would normally see at a market. Zuko looked up at the lights, they were so bright, and they didn't flicker like candles do. This whole place just confused him, and that confusion fed into his anger of the world. But the prince was careful to keep his bending in check. Zuko knew all to well that people did not accept him for who he was, and he wanted to at least know what nation he was in before he started spouting off fire.

Zuko slowly approached a man behind a glass counter. "Looking to buy sell or trade?" The man said seeing the teen.

The prince stood silent for a second before saying; "I would like to trade for 'American Money'" He quoted the sales lady, trying to use her exact pronunciation.

The man laughed. "So you want to sell, well let's see what you've got?" He waited patiently for Zuko to show him his coin.

Zuko was irritated that he had just told the man he wanted to trade, but his words were twisted into sell, but the prince was too tired and hungry to correct the man's mistake. Zuko pulled out his bronze coin, leaving his last silver one still in his pocket. "How much will I get for this?" He asked.

The man studied the coin, then replied with; I will give you $100 for it."

Zuko wasn't sure if one hundred dollars was a lot of money or not, but being an experienced bargainer he tried for higher. "Three hundred." He said, not showing any sigh of weakness.

"Hmm," The man leaned on the counter, "$150, that's it."

"250"

"$200 that final, take it or leave it!" Zuko could tell the man was getting agitated, so nodded his head in agreement. The man stuck the bronze coin in a velvet box, then opened a noisy contraption. Soon he handed Zuko 10 pieces of paper, each with the number 20 written in the corners.

"This is 'American money'?" Zuko asked, making sure he wasn't getting ripped off. The man nodded his head and started cleaning off the counter. "What nation is this?" The prince asked before leaving.

"Kid has someone his you on the head with a brick. You're in the good ole US of A, that _is _why we're using the American currency."

Zuko saw that this man was stupid, there were only 4 nations and the US of whatever the heck he had said was not one of them, and he was not going to be of anymore use so Zuko turned his back and walked away. He was finally headed towards what he had come in the store for. Zuko could smell the stench of cooked cow, and it made his stomach flip. Thankfully there was no line and he was first up to the counter. "Whoa, cool shirt man!" Said a boy dressed in a red polo. His comment made the prince grin on the inside, not even an hour had passed, and he was getting comments on his new look. "So," the boy continued. "what would you like ta, you know, eat?"

Zuko looked above him, there seemed to be a lot of words written there, but he couldn't read any of it. He stared at the menu a little longer before pointing to one of the pictures, "I want that."

"Ok, uno BigMaco coming up." This boy also pushed buttons on one of those machines that the clothing lady, and the coin man had.

"What is that?" Zuko narrowed his eyes to the cash resister.

"It's the bling box dude." The boy looked at Zuko in disbelief. "It's where _The Man_ makes us worker bees put his riches." Still Zuko showed no understanding of what the boy said. "Look, it's just a cash register, every store has them." And with that he gave Zuko his hamburger. "$2.56" Zuko handed he a twenty and took the change. "Have a good day."

"Whatever", Zuko mumbled under his breath as he left the food place. He quickly rushed over too the sale lady and gave her what he owed. Then Zuko finally made his way up to the front of the store and with a quick sprint through the magic doors, he was out. Zuko sat down on the curb and ate his BigMac. The array of flavors swarmed his mouth, and slid down with perfect ease. This could have been the best food he had ever tasted. Zuko sat there and just thought about a few things; _Oh my god this tastes delicious. It's cold out here, where am I going to sleep? _He watched the night sky as the remaining fireworks exploded. Zuko took another bite of his burger. _I'm probably going to have to camp out again. Where am I? Why is everything so weird here?_ Licking his fingers, the prince stood up and threw his trash away. He found a bench a few yards down, and curled up on it. Slowly he started to fall asleep, then using his old clothes as a pillow, Zuko crashed for the night. About four hours later, Zuko was shaken form his slumber.

"Hey, Kid, what are you still doing here?" It was the sales lady. Zuko tried to ignore her, but she kept shaking. "Hey, don't you have a home you need to go to?" This statement brought back painful memories of when Zuko was banished, but he kept his sadness buried.

"No," He answered her. "I have no home."

The lady sighed, then surprised Zuko by pulling him onto his feet. "Come on," She said taking his hand and leading his over to one of the giant creatures.

"What are you doing?" Zuko asked, his voice painted with anger as he ripped his hand out of the woman grip.

"Well I can't just let you stay out here on the streets." She said, pulling keys out of her bag. "Now do you want to have a warm bed to sleep in or not?" There was a bit of force in her tone as she said this.

"I don't need your sympathy." Zuko stated. He knew the right choice would be to go with her, but his pride stopped him from doing so.

"Fine! I've helped you enough today." The lady said, then she opened a door to the creature and sat down inside. There was a monstrous noise, as she backed up and drove away. Zuko was shocked that she would take back her offer so suddenly. Most people tried to convince him that all they wanted to do was help. _You're so stupid!_ He told himself. _Should've gone with the woman, at least then you would have had a place to sleep._ Zuko looked up into the starry sky, _yeah, but she had helped me already, I don't want to burden people with my presence, or take what I can't give back._ Then to his left he heard the squealing of rubber. The creature (car) the woman had gotten into was coming back. It slowly came to a halt, with the passenger door in front of Zuko. Remembering what the woman had done, he opened the door and looked at her. "Get in." She said pleading. "I promise I won't hurt you, I just can't stand the thought of a kid spending the night out alone on the streets."

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Haha, will Zuko get in the car, or will he suck it up and stay on the streets? Only the next chapter will tell…


	4. Shelby

I Apologize, I went on a vacation for two weeks, and well, I meant to take down the whole "3 reviews" thing but it turns out that my grandparents don't have internet up in Iowa… So, my bad I'll try to leave some note next time before I take off and I won't require reviews, though I still like them. And incase you were wondering, my vacation was pretty good, I learned how to ollie on my skateboard while I was there.

Disclaimer: I'm not making any money off of this, and I don't own Avatar, Wal-Mart, Doc. Phil, Toyota, Panic at the Disco, Gable Apartments, Kraft Mac & Cheese, or Big Gulp. Wow talk about your product placement, the disclaimer is about as long as the story.

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Shelby was 28 years old, she lived in San Antonio Texas and works at a dinky-ass Wal-Mart. She had strait brown hair, and big dark eyes, due to the bit of Native American heritage in her. Shelby generally didn't take-in strangers off the street, but she had been listening to some new Doctor Phil "Be nice to people" tapes, and they apparently were working.

She stared up at the boy who was leaning into her car. He had a big scar across his left eye and no home, to Shelby this just screamed "I'm a poor abused boy with no place to go, please help me!" He wore the clothes she had help pick out for him earlier, and seeing that made her feel almost like a mother.

The expression of the boy turned from weary to self disappointment as he got into the car. She could see that he didn't want to be helped, but was smart enough to know when to give in. Shelby smiled to herself over her small victory, as he shut the door.

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The Woman looked over at Zuko, she had a smile on her face, "Buckle up!" she said merrily.

Zuko glanced at her "What?" he replied emotionless.

"Your seatbelt, I wont go unless you have it on, 'cause if I get arrested… Well let's just say my driving record if less then perfect." Most of what she said went right over Zuko's head, but he saw that she was holding a type of harness at her chest, and realized that it was coming from near the car door. Presuming that this was what the woman was talking about, Zuko took his own belt and maneuvered it to buckle into a small box towards that bottom of his seat. The lady seemed satisfied with this and the beast moved forward.

"What is this?" Zuko asked looking around at the interior of the car.

"Oh," The woman sighed, "Just an old Toyota I bought from my cousin in Austin." The Beast/Toyota seemed to move in the direction that the woman turned the wheel positioned in front of her.

"It's very fast!" Zuko complemented, the speed and agility to the Toyota took him by complete surprise.

The woman giggled at his comment, "Ya, compared to a model-T?" The car sped out of the parking lot and soon onto the highway. "You know what, we haven't even been properly introduced, my name's Shelby."

Zuko had to think quickly "Lee" he replied, using he favorit alias. Zuko wished that he could tell people the truth, but if word got around that the fugitive prince was here, bounty hunters would be all over him.

"Lee huh? Where'd your parents get your name from?"

"I donno." Zuko stated flatly.

"Hmm," The woman was disappointed that her attempt at a conversation failed. A few minutes of awkward silence filled the car until finally Shelby spoke up again. "Do you like to listen to the radio?" She asked. Not getting much of a reaction, she turned it on. After turning a knob, she finally got it to a station and stated; "Most of the kids I know like this station. Zuko was stunned by what he heard. It sounded like a person was trapped in the creature, but instead of screaming he was singing;

"Oh! Well in fact, well I'll look at it this way, I mean technically our marriage is saved  
Well this calls for a toast, so pour the champagne, pour the champagne

I'd chime in with a 'Haven't you people ever heard of closing a goddamn door!'  
No, it's much better to face these kinds of things with a sense of poise and rationality."

The fact that someone was inside the mouth of the Toyota, performing because Shelby turned a few knobs, weirded Zuko out. And not wanting to end up like this poor old singing soul, Zuko stayed quiet for the rest of the trip.

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For the rest of the car ride Shelby felt the awkwardness cloud inside the car. Instead of Lee becoming more comfortable, the radio seemed to make him draw away even more. Finally Shelby saw her familiar Gable apartments, and happily drove through the gates.

Lee, breaking his twenty minute silence, spoke with astonishment in his voice. "You live here? How many bedrooms do you have!"

"Just a two room place, I have a futon in the second bedroom, you can sleep on that." Lee slouched lower in his chair.

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Zuko had seen the many roomed building, and was relieved that once again he would be sleeping in a palace. But his happiness was smothered in dissatisfaction when Shelby revealed she only owned a section.

The duo got out of the car and walked on stone path, they went up a staircase and passed a few doors. Zuko guessed that behind each of these doors was another peasants' quarters. Soon they reached Shelby's door, after unlocking it they walked in. Shelby seemed relieved, she threw her purse down on a chair and walked into the kitchen. Zuko just stood in the doorway and watched. "Come in and shut the door, your letting all the air out." Zuko ignored her stupid comment and walked over to the couch leaving the door wide open.

"You have a bit of an attitude problem don't you?" Shelby said as she went over to the door and shut it herself. "The remote's on the table, you welcome to turn on the TV. Do you like Kraft? 'Cause I'm making Mac and Cheese for dinner."

"I don't really care." He answered her. Zuko looked on the table for the thing the woman said was there (remote). Thankfully it wasn't that hard to figure out what a remote was, because the only other things on the table were magazines. Zuko took the hard black box and pressed a few red bumps on top of it. Nothing happened, so Zuko pressed a few more. Finally after pushing one at the top of the small box, a bigger black box only a couple feet away sprang to life. This scared the crap out of Zuko, and with instinct he sprang up into a fighting pose, and his hands exploded into fire balls.

"OH MY GOD YOU'RE ON FIRE!" Shelby screamed from the kitchen.

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Shelby quickly grabbed a big-gulp cup from the counter and filled in the sink. She ran over and threw the water at Lee. Quickly the flames went out, but instead of thanking her, he shot an accusing look. Shelby didn't care, "Let me see your hands!" She said, still in her protective mother mode.

"I'm fine." Lee said, but Shelby took his hands anyway. After close inspection she ordered him to run cool water over his hands for the next five minutes.

"No." He retorted.

"Yes!" She replied, irritated that he wasn't obeying her.

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"NO, I'm fine." Zuko ripped his hands from her grip and held them up to show no marks.

"How the hell did you even light yourself on fire! Did you bring a lighter in here? And what about that scar, did you do that to yourself too?"

"DO YOU THINK I WOULD DO THIS, **TO MYSELF**!" Zuko yelled at her. He pointed a stiff finger to his scar, and a bit of steam poured out of his ears. Pain flooded his body as the memories from his past surfaced. Then in a flash he grabbed his bag of clothes, and huffed out of the apartment.

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Shelby could tell that she had crossed an invisible line. She wasn't sure what to think about the flaming hand incident, but whatever had caused that horrid scar on Lee's face, was a bad memory that he harbored dark feelings about.

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Alright my peeps, I promise I'm not going on another vacation for a while, so I'll try to get the next chapter up ASAP. Oh, and Ally should resurface next chapter.


	5. A Goodnights Sleep

Disclamer: I don't own Avatar or Gable Apartments.

I hope you like this chapter, and thank you for all those nice reviews of last chapter.

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Zuko was sitting on a small wooden bench he found out in the court yard. He sat there for a few moments just staring at the night sky. It was a bit of surprise when he noticed that all the constellations he was so used to seeing every night were gone. _How far did that sink hole take me?_ He wondered in silence. Zuko looked at the tall buildings surrounding him. Most of their lights were off, but he saw on that was still brightly lit-up.

He wasn't quite sure what to do, and it was pretty late at night. Oh how Zuko wished for his uncles guidance.

"What are you doing here?" A shadowy figure asked. Zuko hadn't seen it walk up to him and jumped a little when it spoke. After a brief moment of Zuko studying it's face, he realized it had been that girl from the parking lot.

"What are _you_ doing here?" Zuko questioned right back.

"_I _live here." Ally replied prominently.

"What a shame."

Ally was alarmed at this comment, he came onto her home turf and insulted it, she was not going to let him get away with that. "Excuse me? If you don't like it, then leave. The gate is right over there, I'll even walk you to it so you don't get lost on the way."

Zuko looked over at the gate the girl was pointing to. It was only a short distance away, but the world outside looked frightening. Of coarse he didn't show his insecurity, he didn't want to let the girl know why he was really there; for he had no other place to go.

Thankfully before he had to answer Shelby came running up. "Lee," huff huff huff "don't go," deep breath "I'm sorry." letting the air out slowly "Oh, hi Ally!" The woman turned a smiling face to the girl.

The girl now had a surprised expression plastered on her face, "Ms. Nuhamak, you know him."

"I happen to be boarding at her place, I hope that's alright with you." Zuko smirked at the girl.

Shelby looked at Zuko with a grin, "Your coming back?" She asked. Zuko didn't say a word, just left the two women and walked back to Shelby's apartment. He took the 'remote' in hand and tried his luck with it again. Like last time a big black box in the corner sprang to life. Zuko kept cool and watched the box, there was a man inside, he was outside and pointing to a big orange full moon. "This is the closest the moon will get to earth for the next ten thousand years. Look outside today tomorrow and Sunday, because Monday morning it returns to its regular cycle…" The man drowned on and on, then the box flashed to another screen. This one had two people sitting at a desk and they talked together for a few seconds before the picture then turned to someone else.

"Hello?" Zuko tried talking to these people. They didn't answer back, they didn't even show the faintest sigh that they had heard him. _Oh, this is like a puppet show. These people are just pretending to be outside or at a desk. _Zuko wrongly assumed.He watched to news for a while longer, then Shelby entered.

She went over to the oven and turned a few knobs before pouring something very yellow and gooey into two bowls. "Dinner's ready." She called from the other room. Zuko walked over and took a bowl, he seated himself at the near by table and started to eat. Amazingly the food was not that bad. It tasted like nothing he had ever had before, and that was a good thing.

"So…"Shelby said sitting next to him. "how _did_ you get that scar?" Her words were gentle, and they made Zuko feel like he could trust her, but the memories of what happened had too much pain wrapped inside them and Zuko couldn't bring himself to tell.

Instead of answering, Zuko looked down in his Mac and Cheese.

"Did it happen recently?" Shelby pressed.

Zuko moved his noodles around with his fork, "No," he finally replied. "two years ago." He didn't know why he was telling this lady about his scar, she had no right to know.

"Was it an accident?"

Zuko stood up and took his bag of clothes. "Which room is mine?"

"Down the hall, first door on your left." Shelby said, pointing in the direction of the hallway.

Zuko walked down the hall and found the room. There were a few pieces of furniture, a desk, a lamp, and a couch, but there wasn't a bed. Shelby walked into the room holding sheets and a pillow, "here" she said as she handed them to him. The woman pulled the couch out away from the wall, and pushed on the back of it. The back came down and Zuko was now standing before a bed. "I'm going to guess that you know how to put sheets on?" Shelby asked. Zuko nodded in return, he had seen his servants do it many times. Shelby slowly walked out of the room, but stopped in the door way. "Lee…" she said, patiently waiting for Zuko's attention. "if you ever, need to talk… I'm here." Then she left.

Zuko didn't know if he should take the woman up on her offer or not, but he was too tired tonight to think about it. The prince finished making the bed and started to undress, leaving only his underwear on. Then he went over and flicked a switch that he had seen controlled the illumination of the room. Slowly feeling his way to the bed, Zuko climbed in the comfortable sheets and drifted off to sleep.

zzz

Shelby woke up at 1:00 in the afternoon, but that was to be expected since she worked the late night shift at Wal-Mart. She slowly stirred from bed and went to make some coffee, as she passed Lee's room she peeked in the doorway. The teenager was still asleep and was all tangled up in his covers, the sight made Shelby giggle inside.

After making her coffee Shelby went outside to get the paper and a flyer that was taped to her door. The headline news today was **Are the Gods Angry; astrological events have scientists heads in a spin**. Shelby read for a little bit about how close the moon was, and that now astronomers are predicting that a great meteor is going to pass by sometime in late August. After the first few paragraphs, the reporters started talking about the scientific importance of it all, and Shelby switched to a different article.

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Zuko opened his eyes expecting to see his uncle in the cave they had shared recently, but to his disappointment, that is not where he was. The realization of his situation came full force at him when he jumped out of bed. Slowly he stumbled to get his new shirt and shorts back on, then when he was finally dressed he walked into the dinning room.

"Oh," Shelby said when she realized that he was awake. She was kind of startled to see him wearing the same clothes as yesterday, but then again the only other things she had seen him wearing was some old tan shirt and reddish pants that he had walked into the store with. Tonoght she would pick him up a few more outfits.

Zuko sat down at the table with her and rubbed his neck.

"Sleep well?" Shelby asked.

"Mmm," Zuko answered, it sounded like a 'yes' from his tone.

"Good!" Shelby replied and went back to her paper.

"What time is it?" Zuko questioned in a sleepy voice.

Shelby glanced at the microwave clock, "1:23"

"In the afternoon?"

"Yep."

Zuko sighed "There's only a few more hours of daylight left, I have to leave."

Shelby put her paper down. "What are you talking about, it's summer, the sun doesn't set until nearly 9:00, and why do you have to leave?"

Zuko thought back to his one silver coin left in his pocket. "I need to find a job." He said, answering her question.

"Well your in luck," She passed the flyer that was on her door over to Zuko. It read:

Gable Apartments needs help. In order to keep your apartment grounds clean and free of tall grass, weeds, and litter, we need some lawn handymen. Anyone over the age of fifteen who can follow simple directions and show up on time is welcome to today's 4:00 seminar. Pay is $7.50 an hour. This is a great summer job. Hope to see you there!

"Sounds doable" Zuko replied after reading the flyer. Maybe he didn't have to leave as soon as he thought.

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Zuko as a grounds keeper? Well he's not exactly known for being good with plants, but as a job, it'll do. :P

PS In the next chapter, Zuko grows more close to Ally, well a smug closer.


End file.
